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By Little Mummy, February 22, 2008 1:59 pm

In case you didn’t know, last November we moved from a top floor flat in Edinburgh to a modest house in a small village outside Edinburgh – it could be described as semi rural (by British standards!).

The move itself was as smooth as house moves get. We bought the house at the price we wanted to pay, we sold our flat in 17 hours for more than we were expecting. Everyone completed on time and the only minor hiccup was leaving some stuff behind in our old lock up – I can live with that.

We’ve all settled in amazingly well, and although there are boxes still to be unpacked (in our defence, we are awaiting furniture) we have already fallen in love.

The Garden

Living in a top floor flat we’ve never had a garden of our own. When Erin came along (and started walking) we realised that a garden was rather more a need than a want. The new house has both a front and back garden. The front garden is on a slope so will mainly be used for decorative purposes. I’m planning a cottage-style garden at the front with a wild look, which will be bordered with a clean line of off-white gravel. Eventually I want to have a couple of hanging baskets with strawberry plants, I’m also considering planting a few hardy herb bushes such as thyme, rosemary and sage.

The back garden is very modest in size, currently it has an unused shed, a small patio and a pond. The plan is to extend the garden by a few feet and claim a bit of extra land (everyone in the neighborhood has done this), the extra land will be be used for a 4×4 raised vegetable patch, a gravelled area for pots (fruit, vegetable and herbs) and a small greenhouse. The shed will be rennovated into a playhouse for Erin with a small ‘front garden’, where I’m hoping to encourage her to grow flowers or something. The patio will remain as it is until we’ve saved for some raised decking, when we’ll also change our front livingroom window into french windows that will open straight out onto the deck.

There’s a lot to be done, but I envisage it as an ongiong project – I just can’t wait for the warmer weather so that I can get started.

The View

The view from the back of the house overlooks a railway track (which is suprisingly quiet), barring a pylon we only really see farmland. I love the feeling of not being overlooked, it’s very peaceful. I don’t think I could live somewhere that was too hemmed in now.

The Decor

It’s by no means perfect, but we were able to move in and just put our things where they needed to go. The whole house has recently been decorated and although it is very neutral, it’s nice to feel that decorating jobs can be undertaken when we’re ready rather than a necessity, which is often the case when moving house.

Size of Kitchen

The kitchen in our flat was unusually large. When it came to viewing potential new homes, it was easy to be disappointed with the size of the kitchen. Until we came here and found a large kitchen with integrated fittings, plenty of worktop space and a ton of storage, happy days.

Recycling

I’ve never been much of a recycler…until we moved house. We bought the house and inherited three full size bins in the process. One for garden waste, one for plastics and paper, and the other one for everythingelse. We’re only now starting to get into our stride with it, although we need to get ourselves one of those three-tiered bins to get really organised.

Village Life

I love village life. I like that people say hello to me in the street. I like that Erin is already socialising with future school friends. I like that in the future I’m likely to get roped into volunteering at the Brownies, be asked to bake for the Gala, or be persuaded to sit on the PTA ‘just for one term’. I like all of that so much I don’t think I could go back to city dwelling now.

The Neighbours

One of the main effects on your happiness in a new home is the standard of neighbours you flop (sorry, bit into the poker lingo at the moment). Unfortunately you can’t get a ‘neighbour survey’ so although you might be structurally sound, are the neighbours sound? I’m pleased to say that our neighbours are great, laid back and friendly.

Owning (almost) 50%

Yep, we own almost half of our home outright, simply by moving nine miles out of the city. It’s win-win if you ask me!

Owning Bricks, Mortar and Land

The problem with living in a flat/apartment is that from time to time it can feel like communal living. You have to be more considerate of your noise levels – you can be surrounded on up to four sides. Sound travels in a communal stair so guests arriving and leaving can be heard by everyone. When there are works to be done on communal areas it can become messy and expensive, especially if there is disagreement over what is a requirement.

Owning your own home means that you can do general upkeep work in your own time, when your budget allows.

Home Improvement Opportunities

We’ve only been here a few months, yet I have a ton of ideas on how to make improvements – the garden being the obvious one, a few built in cupboards here, remove a cupboard there, french windows…..

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By Little Mummy, February 21, 2008 10:54 am

It’s been another busy week here. It all started on Thursday…

Bugs

Erin and Alex both caught stomach bugs, and between them spent Thursday through to Sunday being sick. Erin having one final(?) bout on Tuesday. I’ve never seen so much sicky clothing and bedding, I was using the bathroom as a quarantine area until I could settle Erin enough to get it washed!

National Treasure

Alex and I went to see National Treasure: Book of Secrets on Saturday (during a brief interlude in Erin’s bug). I watched the first National Treasure and quite enjoyed it. Book of Secrets was an enjoyable sequel, if a little predictable. At some points it was a bit far-fetched, it is Disney after all. Oh, and they left it ripe for a part three.

Poker

My birthday was on Monday (I turned 25 in case you want to know), as part of my birthday present Alex took me to the casino. I won a bit on roulette and also played in a poker tournament (only my second live event), I was pleased to come 13th out of 31, just 3 places away from the money. My aim next time is to get into a top ten place and win myself some money.

Photo by flickr user Lycid

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By Little Mummy, February 11, 2008 10:17 am

I’ve just been reading a news article on Raising Kids – Do Kids Start School too Early?

Well my view on that is yes, but what really caught my eye were the comments by Steve Sinnot of The National Union of Teachers and the Goverment respectively.

Uniquely, England is a country where testing is used to police schools and control what is taught. “I call on the government to initiate a full and independent review of the impact of the current testing system on schools and on children’s learning and to be prepared to dismantle a system which is long past its sell-by date. Steve Sinnot to Reuters

We make no apology for our focus on school standards…The reality is that children spend a very small percentage of their time in school being tested. The Government defending its current stance

I agree with Steve, the current set up is dissatisfactory for pupils, teachers and parents. Children may only spend a small percentage of their time being tested, but what about the preparation time for those tests. I’ve been to school (not that long ago) and I remember big chunks of the school year taken up with test preparation. In high school the whole year is geared around prelims, standard grades or higher exams.

Education, Education, Education they cried, well lets see some action then, because all is not right with the current setup.

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By Little Mummy, February 9, 2008 7:06 am

I’m writing this post as a blogging friend emailed me to check I was ok, It’s been 2 weeks without a postng – and to be fair, that is pretty unusual for me.

So what have I been doing?

Well firstly my brother and his fiancee came to visit us. We hadn’t seen them for six months, my brother’s been serving abroad, so it was really great to catch up. We had a Wii night and played our new Guitar Hero game. They took Erin to Edinburgh Zoo, I didn’t want to disappoint them too much by telling them what we thought of our visit last year. In the afternoon we went ice-skating, it’s been around 18 years since I last skated – and it showed! Erin was keen to get on the ice, she kept pointing to her feet to show that she still had trainers on and she needed skates to get going, we’ll definitely take her when she’s older. That evening we played poker, I came second.

My Grandad also arrived from Wales on Thursday. Friday we went to our favourite haunt – Dobbies. Erin saw the animals and we bagged ourselves some birthday and christmas presents – a barbecue, garden spade and fork, a garden trough, gardening gloves, and a trowel.

Saturday was wet with spells of snow so we headed for the indoor arcade, and then to toys r us, this time for a treat for Erin. She chose this doodle pony by whipping it off the shelf and shouting “This is the one!”

Sunday we celebrated Erin’s birthday with a family tea party (photo above). You can’t really see but it was themed ‘In the Night Garden’ and her Upsy Daisy Doll was a definite highlight.

Monday (Erin’s actual birthday) we went to the soft play and then for lunch.

It’s been a busy busy week!

Stay tuned for the final parts of the ‘Increase Your Blog’s Income’ series…